Image Credit: Guilhem Canal

Unpretentious and renowned music producer Joris Delacroix has gathered our attention in a different way with his single ‘Early Hours feat. Run Rivers’ via SmallFishBigSea. The French producer is known for his heavily instrumental arrangements, but this time around he delights us with vocals from DJ Shadow collaborator and emerging vocalist Run Rivers. Listening to ‘Early Hours’ one can only think of a divine quiet morning where you have the room to breathe and kickback. We are not sure what Joris Delacroix will deliver next in terms of genre specifics, but we sure like this new vocal direction.

We had the pleasure of chatting with ambitious and grounded DJ Joris Delacroix below.

Stream/Download ‘Early Hours feat. Run Rivers’

Tell us about your earliest musical memory?

I don’t remember exactly how old I was, I was in my parents’ attic with their old vinyl collection of french songs and disco. It was more of a child’s game than anything else until I had my very first blast on a track! It was an instrumental remix of ‘Gloria’ by Laura Branigan

At what point in your life did you have that moment where you said to yourself “This is it. This is the type of music I want to create?”

I had it the first time I made a full track by myself when I was 19. I had a pretty chaotic adolescence where it was very difficult for me to find out who I am and what I wanted to do with my life. The first time I produced something the track honestly sounded shitty, but I had a lot of fun and satisfaction making it. The few people who listened to it really encouraged me to keep going. That can seem dumb, but this was one of the only times in my life when people seemed to appreciate something I did with pleasure and I could be myself. So it was very clear to me that it was going to be my life now, no matter what it takes.

Describe the process of collaborating with vocalist Run Rivers. What made his vocals stand out for you?

Last year I made a remix of a Tinlicker’s track which Run Rivers performed on, that’s how we got in touch. From his previous collaborations on Anjuna Deep, he already has the experience of performing on deep melodic tracks. This made this collaboration very efficient, even if we did it remotely. I first made an instrumental version that I sent to him to put some ideas on, and then we added vocals parts little by little. We also modified the instrumental when it was needed. This was really interesting because we had a lot of interactions and we tested a lot of different things on the vocals and instrumental before arriving at the final result. He was really involved in the project so it was a great pleasure to work with him. I’m sure we’ll collaborate again in the future.

Please list some of the most influential albums on your creative outlook and output:

Daft Punk – Discovery, Paul Kalkbrenner – Berlin Calling, Muse – Origin Of Symmetry, Kendrick Lamar – Damn …

What key pieces of gear/software are you using to define your sound?

If I have to pick only one it would be the Moog Sub37, and one Software would be the U-he Diva. They are very common synths but very efficient.  I use them to make strong melodic leads and arps that make the gimmicks of my tracks.

What inspires you outside of music? What do you turn to when the creative well runs a little low?

It’s literally everything that can trigger an emotion. It’s mostly about spending time with people I already know or new people; listening to their stories, share our feelings and experience in our lives. It can also be with going outside, being in nature and appreciating the simpler things in life. And also my interest in other forms of art like movies, painting, other music than electronic, and even sometimes video games can be inspiring. I think it’s all about keeping an open mind and letting the emotions flow.

You previously mentioned that you wanted to try “something new’ with this track. How did producing this track differ from the norm?

The main difference from before was concerning the vocals. With the previous vocal tracks I made, I used very simple toplines with only 1 or 2 tracks. With ‘Early Hours’ I wanted to go further with something rich and full of harmonies. And it was quite a challenge because my music is already rich and harmonic in the instrumental, so it’s not always easy to find space in the mix. It has been all about making choices to find the right balance.

What is your opinion on the ever spreading sub-genre vine? Are there too many? Do you think there’ s perhaps a sub-genre that doesn’t get the attention it deserves?

There are too many sub-genres. I feel like today we need to put labels on everything and create little boxes we can store things in. In a way, I can understand it, because we have access to way more music and artists than ever. We need to have some landmarks. But as an artist, I don’t pay attention to sub-genres because if you identify with it too much I think it will lock down your creativity.

Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, what do you prefer?

I just don’t want to choose. I can’t make one without the other.

As a music artist, it becomes apparent that there is a huge difference between the art and the business. Is there anything about the music scene that you would personally change?

I see myself as a small artist in a big world in which many aspects are beyond me. I don’t have the pretension to say that I would change anything because I just can’t. At some point, I think it’s normal to get into some business with music if you want to live on it. In my case, I just don’t want the business aspect to get more important than the artistic aspect. But a lot of people don’t think the same way, and I don’t want to fight it. I prefer to spend my energy on doing what I believe in.

What can we expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?

I’m working on an album project but instead of releasing 12 tracks at once, I’m releasing tracks one by one right after I finish producing them. So I released one track in May, the next one will be in June, the next in September, and I’ll keep this frequency until I’ll have released an album.

One last thought to leave your fans with?

Thank you for being a fan, and I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon at real gigs :).

Follow Joris Delacroix:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Soundcloud – Youtube – Instagram – Spotify